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Wife arrested in Pisgah Forest death

BREVARD — The wife of a Pisgah Forest man who suffered a suspicious fatal gunshot wound on Dec. 5 was arrested Wednesday, the Transylvania County Sheriff's Office said.

Preliminary autopsy results found Timothy Wayne Grant, 55, had been deceased from a single gunshot wound for several hours before he was brought to Transylvania Regional Hospital by his wife, Sandra Elaine Blythe, 63, according to the sheriff's office.

Following what was described as a "lengthy investigation," Blythe confessed to killing Grant after an argument between the two that Friday in the Little River area of Transylvania County, Sheriff David Mahoney said. She is being held in the Transylvania County Detention Center without bond.

Originally, Blythe told investigators the shooting happened in the Bent Creek area of Buncombe County as she and Grant were being robbed by two men in a parking area beside Brevard Road near the French Broad River, according to a search warrant. She told investigators she had ridden with Grant from Transylvania County to Bent Creek, where she said Grant had planned to meet two men at the site. She said when one of the men raised his voice, she grabbed a revolver from beside the seat in the vehicle and got out of her car to deter the men, when one grabbed her from behind and pushed her, prompting the gun to go off and a bullet to hit Grant.

She told investigators that following the shooting, she drove to her home in Transylvania County with Grant deceased in the car, then performed various household tasks before driving him to the hospital, according to the warrant.

Officers seized a .45-caliber pistol, bullets and various bottles of prescription medications from the Pisgah Forest home, the warrant says.

The Transylvania County Sheriff's Office, Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, Brevard Police Department and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation investigated.